History Crash Course #28: Greek Persecution

Terror reigned -- women were killed with babies tied around their necks.

Alexander's vast empire did not survive his death in 323 BCE, but fragmented into three large chunks centered in Greece, Egypt, and Syria and controlled by his former generals. These three smaller empires were known as:

Seleucid or Syrian Greece

Ptolemian or Egyptian Greece

Macedonian or Greece proper, including the independent city-states of Athens, Sparta, etc.

Initially, Israel falls under the Ptolemies of Egypt. They are generally liberal and open-minded in keeping with the spirit of their capital city of Alexandria which is the world's cultural center.

But this changes in 198 BCE after the Battle of Panias (or Banyas-Tel Dan in northern Israel). After their victory at Panias the Seleucids of Assyria, led by the King, Antiochus III, take over control of Israel from the Ptolemies.

The picture is volatile, however. The next Seleucid king, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, finds himself under a lot of pressure, holding back the Ptolemies and worrying about the rising might of Rome.

He decides that the weak link in his defenses is Israel. Israel is bordered by (1) Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea (from whence the Romans could come), and worst of all, the majority of Jews are not into Greek culture. This situation he now moves to remedy.

When Worlds Collide

Some years before, when the Greeks who had conquered the entire known world first met the Jews, they were astonished. They'd never encountered people like this before. On the positive side the intellectual, spiritual and legal aspects of Judaism were totally unique and no doubt fascinating to the philosophical Greeks.

The Jews were just so different from anyone else they had ever encountered. They were the only monotheists in the world and they subscribed to a worldview that is totally different from anyone else's ― namely, that everything that exists had been created and is sustained by one infinite, invisible and caring God. This idea ― particularly that this caring, perfect Being busies Himself with the lives of imperfect mortals ― the Greeks found just about incomprehensible. The Greek historian Hecateus (ca 360-290 BCE) describes the unique monotheism of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.

There is no image, nor statue, nor votive offering therein; nothing at all is planted there, neither grove nor anything of the sort. The priests abide therein both nights and days, performing certain purification rites, and drinking not the least drop of wine while they are in the temple.

On top of that, the Greeks could not understand the Jewish view of the Torah. This was an ancient book, which the Jews claimed they got from God, and which contained odd teachings on how to lead a life of peace, brotherhood, social responsibility, and respect for life ― all values that were far removed from Greek ideals.

In short, the Greeks didn't know what to make of the Jews.

The Jews were likewise confounded. The Greeks were people who valued education and intellectual pursuits ― something the Jews also valued and very much admired. The Greeks spoke a beautiful language, which the Jews appreciated very much. (The Talmud says that ancient Greek is the most beautiful language in the world, it's the only language you can write a kosher Torah scroll besides Hebrew.) (2)

Indeed, the Torah was promptly translated into Greek (in the 3rd century BCE) by Ptolemy III ― the first such translation in Jewish history. This translation was called the "Septuagint" after the 70 rabbis who did it.

It happened that King Ptolemy gathered seventy-two sages and placed them in seventy-two houses without telling them why he had brought them together. He went to each one of them and told him, "translate for me [into Greek] the Torah of your master Moses(3).

(This translation is considered a national disaster for the Jewish people. In the hands of the non-Jewish world, the now accessible Hebrew Bible has often been used against the Jews, and has been deliberately mistranslated. Most Christian Bibles in English today depend on the Greek translation which was then translated into Latin, the language of the Roman Empire, and from there into English. You can just imagine how many interpretations and mistakes and deliberate mistranslations were made along the way.(4))

However, it was inevitable that the Hebrew Bible would be translated into Greek because Greek became the international intellectual language of the ancient Mediterranean world. It was as common everywhere as English is today! And the Jews who were mostly speaking Aramaic thanks to their foray in the Babylonian exile become conversant in Greek as well. (Hebrew was then a language primarily of prayer and of study but not the spoken language of the street, even in Israel.)

Despite this mutual appreciation ― which incidentally lured a lot of Jews ― the vast differences could not be tolerated by the dominant culture for long.

Jew vs. Jew

The Chanukah story is often portrayed as a struggle for national liberation ― the Jewish revolt against the Greek occupation of Israel. In reality it is much complicated that that. The real conflict was not physical but intellectual. Chanukah was ultimately an ideological-spiritual war between paganism and Judaism. It was also not a struggle purely between Greeks and Jews. It was first a foremost a civil war of Jew against Jew. The initial impetus for the Greek attack against Judaism came from a certain splinter group of the Jewish people ― the Hellenized Jews.

These were Jews who were sucked into Greek culture. And it is no wonder why; Greek culture was the major culture milieu of the ancient world.

We see this as a pattern in Jewish history. A world culture comes along which is enlightened and progressive and is changing the world, and some of the upper class Jews always get into it. Why? Because they are rich, sophisticated, and have lot of spare time. Then they say to the rest of the Jewish people: "Let's get modern. Forget this ancient Jewish stuff." (We will see this pattern repeated in Spain, and in Germany, and even today in America and Israel.)

At this time, we have a small but very vocal and powerful group of Jews, who align with the Greek authorities and who become Hellenized. They do everything the Greeks do.

They send their children to the gymnasium, and they reverse their circumcisions ― a very painful operation ― since so much of Greek stuff is done naked and the Greeks would consider them mutilated otherwise.

To make matters worse, the schism between the Hellenized Jews and mainstream Jews is paralleled by another schism ― between two factions of religious Jews.

It begins in the third century BCE when two students named ― Zadok and Bysos ― begin preaching a new form of Judaism, devoid of belief in the Divinity of the Oral Torah. There is little doubt that Greek thought played a significant role in creating this early break with mainstream Judaism. Their followers are called the Sadducees and Bysosim, though it is the Sadducees that go down in history. The mainstream observant Jews, who follow the Rabbis and keep Jewish law as it has always been practiced, are called ironically "Pharisees," meaning "separatists," to distinguish them from the others.

Since the Sadducees do not believe that the Oral Torah comes from God, they maintain that they are only obligated to keep the laws of the Written Torah, which they read literally. (This denial of the Oral Law will occur later in Jewish history with the Karaite schism in Babylon.) But so many of the laws of the Written Torah are incomprehensible without the Oral Torah. Their answer? Each man for himself; anyone can decide what it means and act accordingly.

The Sadducees were always more acceptable in the eyes of the Hellenist Jews than their rabbinic foes. The alliance of the Hellenists and the Sadducees against traditional Judaism guaranteed constant turmoil in Jewish life throughout the time of the Second Temple and even thereafter. (Echoes of Glory, p. 38)

(We shall discuss the Sadducees in greater detail in future segments when we come to the Roman Empire and its domination of the Jews.)

This is how the ancient historian Josephus explains the beliefs of the Jews at this time:

The Pharisees [who are considered most skillful in the exact explication of their laws and are the leading school] ascribe all to fate and to God and yet allow that to do what is right or to the contrary is principally the power of men, although fate does cooperate in every action. They say that all souls are imperishable but that the souls of good men only pass into other bodies while the souls of evil men are subject to eternal punishment.

But the Sadducees are those that compose the second order and exclude fate entirely and suppose that God is not concerned with our doing or not doing what is evil. They say that to do what is good or what is evil is man's own choice and that the choice of one or the other belongs to each person who may act as he pleases. They also exclude the belief in immortality of the soul and the punishment and rewards of the afterworld.

Moreover, the Pharisees are friendly to one another and cultivate harmonious relations with the community, but the behavior of the Sadducees towards one another is to some degree boorish, and their conversation with those that of their own party is barbarous as if they were strangers to them.(5)

You can see how the Sadducees were influenced by Greek thought. They are part of the reason that the High Priesthood and the Temple service became so corrupt (as many of the priestly class, an upper class at that time, became Sadducees). And this is why the Talmud says that so many High Priests died during the service of Yom Kippur.

Forced Hellenization

It isn't long before the Hellenized Jews draw the Greeks into the conflict by enlisting the support of the Selucid king. Antiochus IV Epiphanes takes deliberate steps between 169 BCE and 167 BCE to Hellenize the Jews of Israel by attempting to destroy Judaism. The Book of Maccabees calls this period a "reign of terror" and describes its beginnings as:

Not long after this, the king sent an Athenian senator to compel the Jews to forsake the laws of their fathers and cease to live by the laws of God, and also to pollute the temple in Jerusalem and call it the temple of Olympian Zeus...(6)

One of the first things that Antiochus does take control of the Temple through influencing the office of the High Priest. He removes the High Priest from his position and replaces him with a Jew that he has in his back pocket. From this point on the High Priesthood becomes, to a large extent, a corrupt institution.

So here we begin to see a pattern which is going to evolve through later Jewish history of all the basic institutions being corrupted: the monarchy, the priesthood, the Temple service. What is going to be left relatively intact is the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Supreme Court, and its rabbis who will eventually write the Talmud, as we shall see.

After he installs his own High Priest, Antiochus tries to dissolve the Jewish calendar.

Antiochus, by this time, understands the Jews very well. To him these people are time obsessed ― they try to make time holy. Destroy time and you destroy the Jews' ability to practice Judaism. Therefore, Antiochus forbids the observance of Shabbat, the observance of the New Moon (Rosh Chodesh), and the observance of the holidays ― Passover, Shavuot, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Sukkot.

Next, Antiochus forbids keeping kosher and studying Torah. Torah scrolls are publicly burned, and swine are sacrificed over sacred Jewish books to defile them. Indeed, Antiochus seems obsessed by swine, knowing that this animal is particularly repugnant to the Jews; he even forces the High Priest to institute swine sacrifices in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, and also to permit worship there of a whole array of Greek gods. (See 1 Maccabees 1:41-64.)

Lastly, Antiochus forbids circumcision. To the Jews, this is the physical, tangible sign of their covenant with God. And it's the one thing the Greeks ― who worship the perfection of the human body ― find most abhorrent. To them, circumcision is a mutilation.

Jews resist, so Antiochus and his henchmen go about driving the point home in a crude and cruel fashion. The Jewish historian, Rabbi Berel Wein relates this graphically in his Echoes of Glory:

Women who allowed their sons to be circumcised were killed with their sons tied around their necks. The scholars of Israel were hounded, hunted down and killed. Jews who refused to eat pork or sacrifice hogs were tortured to death ... Even the smallest hamlet in Judah was not safe from the oppression of the Hellenists. The altars to Zeus and other pagan deities were erected in every village, and Jews of every area were forced to participate in the sacrificial services. (p. 63)

This type of religious persecution was, until then, unknown in human history. Up to that time, no one in the ancient world declared war on other people's religions, because the attitude of polytheism was "I'll worship your god, you worship mine. The more gods the merrier."

(Later we will see Greek and Roman mythologies blending with Zeus becoming Jupiter, etc. The ultimate in pluralism ― everyone's religion is as good as the next.)

In the polytheistic world no one died for their religion. No one, except the Jews.

The Jews maintain that there are things in this life that are worth dying for ― things that are more meaningful than life itself. Jews are willing to give up their lives for Judaism. Not because God needs people to die for Him but because the ideology of Torah is something without which humanity is doomed. The Jews, who are supposed to be "the light unto the nations," cannot abandon their mission, even when their lives are threatened.

In the early stages of the conflict many Jews chose the path of "passive resistance" by choosing to ignore the Greek restrictions and continue to learn Torah and circumcise their infant sons. This form of resistance often proved fatal as many Jews were martyred for their continued loyalty to Judaism. Resistance to Greek persecutions could also take a more active form ― they could also fight against this type of tyranny and they do. What is most terrible in this fight, however, is that the Jews who are defending Judaism must fight the Greeks as well as some of their own fellow Jews who have converted to Hellenism.

The corruption of the Temple and the forced Hellenization and persecution finally becomes too much to bear for mainstream observant Jews. When they finally revolt against the Greeks, they take on their collaborators among the Jews as well.

The revolt of the Maccabees ― which we celebrate today as Chanukah ― is as much a story of a civil war between Jews as against Greece. It's not a war for national liberation, nor is it a struggle for physical freedom ― it is a struggle of ideas.

1)Lawrence H. Schiffman, Text and Tradition ― A Source Reader for the Study of the Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism. New Jersey: Ktav Publishing House. 1998. 142. Hecateus is quoted by the great first century CE Jewish historian, Josephus, in his book Contra Apion. What was most astounding to Hacateus was the complete lack of the images and idols so ubiquitous in every pagan temple of antiquity.
2) See Talmud ― Megillah 9a ― Rebbi Shimon ben Gamliel said: "Even books of scripture the sages did not permit to be written in any foreign language other than Greek." It is important to mention that the Talmud here refers to the original, pure ancient Greek, not the common ancient Greek dialect, koine, of the Hellanstic world nor the modern Greek of today.
3) Talmud ― Megillah 9b.
4) Deliberate mistranslations were usually done by Christians scholars in-order-to "bend" the text to prove Christian theology. The classic example is Isaiah 7:14 where the Hebrew word almah meaning "young woman/maiden" is deliberately mistranslated into "virgin" (in Hebrew the word is b'tulah) to support the Christian concept of virgin birth.
5) Josephus, Jewish War II 119-166
6) II Maccabees 6:1.

Article 28 of 68 in the series Jewish History

Related Articles:

About the Author

Rabbi Ken Spiro, originally from New Rochelle, NY, graduated from Vassar College with a BA in Russian Language and Literature and did graduate studies at the Pushkin Institute in Moscow. He has rabbinic ordination from Aish Jerusalem and a Masters Degree in History from Vermont College of Norwich University. Rabbi Spiro is also a licensed tour guide by the Israel Ministry of Tourism. He has appeared on numerous radio and TV programs such as BBC, National Geographic Channel and The History Channel. He lives near Jerusalem with his wife and five children, where he works as a senior lecturer for Aish Jerusalem.

In one volume, Crash Course in Jewish History explores the 4,000 years of Jewish existence while answering the great questions: Why have the Jewish people been so unique, so impactful, yet so hated and so relentlessly persecuted?

Crash Course in Jewish History is not only comprehensive and readable, it is also entertaining and enlightening. Novices and scholars alike will find Crash Course in Jewish History to be thought-provoking and insightful, as well as a valuable and relevant guide to understanding the challenges we all face in the 21st century.

Visitor Comments: 17

(17)
jytdog,
June 26, 2011 1:30 AM

contemporary translations in English of

Concerning this: "Most Christian Bibles in English today depend on the Greek translation which was then translated into Latin, the language of the Roman Empire, and from there into English." This has not been true since the Renaissance, when Christian scholars learned Hebrew and translated their "OId Testament" directly from the source. It is true that the ancient authors of the "New Testament" seemed steeped in the LXX and many of the NT notions appear to come from there. But that is a different matter from contemporary English translations.

(16)
Dave Pinsky,
November 30, 2010 3:37 PM

More brilliance from a priceless Series

So much to read.... so much to know... So many who need to hear! So much we must do to expose the Universal need for Knowledgeable and Godly peole to improve our behaviour towards G-d, Our fellow Man and all of God's Creation.

(15)
Paul,
July 24, 2009 11:31 PM

Excellent

A joy to read! Well written and easy to follow this complex and difficult period of Jewish History. Thank you!

(14)
Anonymous,
November 20, 2007 8:36 AM

Thanks Rabbi Spiro

Rabbi Spiro, Thank you for your wonderful contributions to Aish.com! These notes go very well with your "Crash Course in Jewish History" which I have listened to countless times. Thanks for the terrific explanations :)

(13)
Menashe Kaltmann,
June 14, 2007 9:14 PM

Mesirat Nefesh - Self Sacrifice

Thank you so much R. Spiro and aish.com for this enjoyable, exciting and thrilling account of this heroic times of Jewish History. Jewish History comes alive reading this series!

Interestingly the pattern of Jewish self scarifice "Mesirat Nefesh" that existed at the times of The Greek persecution and Macabees also was followed in later generations of Jewish History.

I think from memory the great Jewish Sage 'The Chofetz Chaim' R. Yisrael Kagan of Saintly Memory who passed away in the 1930's described the Communist persecution of the Jewish religion and Jews in Stalinist Russia as being similar to the times of The Greek persecution and Macabbean Revolt.

The stories of religious persecution in Stalinist Russia are many and are analogous to the times of Greek persecution. Some good examples of theis type of "Mesirat Nefesh" self sacrifice despite religious persecution in Stalinist Russia include:

-In 1927 the arrest exile and liberation of self sacrifice of The Saintly 6th Rebbe of Lubavitch Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak of Blessed Memory and his subsequent arrest and religious persecution are similar in a way to this Greek persecution.

I also remember meeting the famous Chossid (Hassid) Reb Mendel Futerfass a Chabad Chossid in Kfar Chabad in the early 1980's. Reb Mendel spent ~10 years in Russian prisons in exile for spreading and helping his fellow Jews in Stalinist Russia! What incredible personalities who stood up to terrible persecutions. Interestingly Reb Mendel when I briefly spoke to him seemed to be a very positive upbeat person! (The Saintly 7th Lubavitcher Rebbe Rabbi Menachem M. Schneersohn Zechus Yagen Aleinu told him to continue wearing his Russian "Kasket" hat even when he lived in Israel after emigrating from Russia in the 1960's.)

(12)
Anonymous,
June 12, 2007 12:00 PM

Fascinating reading

I am sorry I didn't continue to read all of the articles in this series. The earlier ones were familiar to me so I thought there was nothing new to learn.Not so. So much history for such a small country. It almost equals that of my own country - Scotland - another small country.As for the mistranslations what could you expect. Everyone has their own interpretation of events.Later translations became more accurate as writers reverted to doing so from the original Hebrew writings.Even in the Torah there are somewhat different interpretations of events.

I couldn't find mention of Hecateus in the body of the work and there is very little on him on the web.I would like to have known why he was included at all in the comments at the end of the article.So Rabbi Spiro is a licensed tour guide.How fascinating it would be to be in one of his tour groups.

(11)
Grace Fishenfeld,
June 10, 2007 2:51 PM

I respect our traditions and am a secular Jew

As you mentioned in your article, Jews, in the third centuty BCE,were engaged in a civil war of ideas. While I am grateful to the Maccabees for their revolt,which reversed the trend to Hellenize the Jewish community,I still hold to the freedom Jews have to think and choose. This does not mean that thought is so undisciplined that it is every man for himself. It embraces something other. I find no fault with the ten commandments and expect every person who embraces them to then take responsibility for human action. My Jewishness is undeniable and my faith is fixed. I live in a world that touches and reaches out to others. I believe that we learned from the mistakes made after the Maccabees took charge.

(10)
Christopher Feahr,
March 18, 2005 12:00 AM

Thank you for this!!!

Dear Rabbi Ken,
This is EXACTLY what I have wanted to read... for years, actually. It could not come at a more opportune time in my own spiritual work. Thank you for taking the time to write this and for giving it so freely. (I only got through 28 chapters today though... so your "24 hr" estimate might be a little off for slow readers like me!)

Kindest regards.
-Chris

(9)
Madinga,
March 6, 2003 12:00 AM

Voice of Manaseh

Thanks for the History, easy to understand commentary. It helps me to in everyway, Keep up the good work.

(8)
Bob Hudson,
January 1, 2003 12:00 AM

Jewry at the dawn of Christianity

Thanks for the helpful historical settings and relationships that were occurring during the dawn of Christianity.

I have taught a few large adult groups the historical context and find they are generally oblivious to the significance of names, dates and events, especially viewed from the Jewish perspective.

I intend on completing all the classes, and look forward to the next installment.

(7)
murray,
December 24, 2002 12:00 AM

Excellent material

Now, there are no excuses for not learning more about Judiasm. You do not have to sign up for classes or travel any further than your computer. You made me a prouder Jew. Continue the good work and try to allow readers to forward your website to friends and relatives.

(6)
Anonymous,
December 20, 2001 12:00 AM

The series is exciting, fascinating and informative.

I am very much enjoying reading Rabbi Spiro's Crash Course. I especially like the unique Torah-oriented perspective through which the author sees history, and the integration of Jewish history with world history. Thank you!

(5)
Ekpe Ndiyo,
June 18, 2001 12:00 AM

Your history is very appealing and interesting.But I thought that at Alexander's death,his empire was divided into 4 and not three,as you stated.
As a layman,I'd appreciate if you could throw more light on this.

Thank you.

Aish.cmo replies: You are correct. It is true that Alexander's kingdom was split into more than 3 parts. One could mention Ptolemy in Egypt, Seleucus in Mesopotamia and Syria, Cassander in Macedonia and Greece, Antigonus in Asia Minor, and Lysimachus in Thrace. The others were not mentioned because they were not central to the resulting events.

(4)
E Gordon,
May 23, 2001 12:00 AM

So wonderfully readable!

I hope many are taking advantage of this series of articles. It is not only enlightening, but also clearly written. It is unfortunate that the subject matter is sometimes quite painful. I hope if enough people become educated about the past, we will not repeat the cycle of foolishness and pettiness that tended to split us apart and make life more difficult than it needed to be.

(3)
Kristin Harding,
May 21, 2001 12:00 AM

I very much enjoyed this article. It had some marvelous insights into our Biblical history. I will pass it on to other to read. Thank you for all your hard work. Sincerely, Kristin Harding

(2)
,
May 21, 2001 12:00 AM

Extremely interesting

It is great to see such an informative series on Jewish history, i really enjoy reading them!

(1)
Leonard Schultz,
May 20, 2001 12:00 AM

Extremely Informative

I'm embarrassed that this is the first such article I've read, though I've been "tuning in" to Aish for some time. Now my appetite has been whetted.

I'm told that it's a mitzvah to become intoxicated on Purim. This puzzles me, because to my understanding, it is not considered a good thing to become intoxicated, period.

One of the characteristics of the at-risk youth is their use of drugs, including alcohol. In my experience, getting drunk doesn't reveal secrets. It makes people act stupid and irresponsible, doing things they would never do if they were sober. Also, I know a lot about the horrible health effects of abusing alcohol, because I work at a research center that focuses on addiction and substance abuse.

Also, I am an alcoholic, which means that if I drink, very bad things happen. I have not had a drink in 22 years, and I have no intention of starting now. Surely there must be instances where a person is excused from the obligation to drink. I don't see how Judaism could ever promote the idea of getting drunk. It just doesn't seem right.

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

Putting aside for a moment all the spiritual and philosophical reasons for getting drunk on Purim, this remains an issue of common sense. Of course, teenagers should be warned of the dangers of acute alcohol ingestion. Of course, nobody should drink and drive. Of course, nobody should become so drunk to the point of negligence in performing mitzvot. And of course, a recovering alcoholic should not partake of alcohol on Purim.

Indeed, the Code of Jewish Law explicitly says that if one suspects the drinking may affect him negatively, then he should NOT drink.

Getting drunk on Purim is actually one of the most difficult mitzvot to do correctly. A person should only drink if it will lead to positive spiritual results - e.g. under the loosening affect of the alcohol, greater awareness will surface of the love for God and Torah found deep in the heart. (Perhaps if we were on a higher spiritual level, we wouldn't need to get drunk!)

Yet the Talmud still speaks of an obligation on Purim of "not knowing the difference between Blessed is Mordechai and Cursed is Haman." How then should a person who doesn't drink get the point of “not knowing”? Simple - just go to sleep! (Rama - OC 695:2)

All this applies to individuals. But the question remains - does drinking on Purim adversely affect the collective social health of the Jewish community?

The aversion to alcoholism is engrained into Jewish consciousness from a number of Biblical and Talmudic sources. There are the rebuking words of prophets - Isaiah 28:1, Hosea 3:1 with Rashi, and Amos 6:6, and the Zohar says that "The wicked stray after wine" (Midrash Ne'alam Parshat Vayera).

It is well known that the rate of alcoholism among Jews has historically been very low. Numerous medical, psychological and sociological studies have confirmed this. The connection between Judaism and sobriety is so evident, that the following conversation is reported by Lawrence Kelemen in "Permission to Receive":

When Dr. Mark Keller, editor of the Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, commented that "practically all Jews do drink, and yet all the world knows that Jews hardly ever become alcoholics," his colleague, Dr. Howard Haggard, director of Yale's Laboratory of Applied Physiology, jokingly proposed converting alcoholics to the Jewish religion in order to immerse them in a culture with healthy attitudes toward drinking!

Perhaps we could suggest that it is precisely because of the use of alcohol in traditional ceremonies (Kiddush, Bris, Purim, etc.), that Jews experience such low rates of alcoholism. This ceremonial usage may actually act like an inoculation - i.e. injecting a safe amount that keeps the disease away.

Of course, as we said earlier, all this needs to be monitored with good common sense. Yet in my personal experience - having been in the company of Torah scholars who were totally drunk on Purim - they acted with extreme gentleness and joy. Amid the Jewish songs and beautiful words of Torah, every year the event is, for me, very special.

Adar 12 marks the dedication of Herod's renovations on the second Holy Temple in Jerusalem in 11 BCE. Herod was king of Judea in the first century BCE who constructed grand projects like the fortresses at Masada and Herodium, the city of Caesarea, and fortifications around the old city of Jerusalem. The most ambitious of Herod's projects was the re-building of the Temple, which was in disrepair after standing over 300 years. Herod's renovations included a huge man-made platform that remains today the largest man-made platform in the world. It took 10,000 men 10 years just to build the retaining walls around the Temple Mount; the Western Wall that we know today is part of that retaining wall. The Temple itself was a phenomenal site, covered in gold and marble. As the Talmud says, "He who has not seen Herod's building, has never in his life seen a truly grand building."

Some people gauge the value of themselves by what they own. But in reality, the entire concept of ownership of possessions is based on an illusion. When you obtain a material object, it does not become part of you. Ownership is merely your right to use specific objects whenever you wish.

How unfortunate is the person who has an ambition to cleave to something impossible to cleave to! Such a person will not obtain what he desires and will experience suffering.

Fortunate is the person whose ambition it is to acquire personal growth that is independent of external factors. Such a person will lead a happy and rewarding life.

With exercising patience you could have saved yourself 400 zuzim (Berachos 20a).

This Talmudic proverb arose from a case where someone was fined 400 zuzim because he acted in undue haste and insulted some one.

I was once pulling into a parking lot. Since I was a bit late for an important appointment, I was terribly annoyed that the lead car in the procession was creeping at a snail's pace. The driver immediately in front of me was showing his impatience by sounding his horn. In my aggravation, I wanted to join him, but I saw no real purpose in adding to the cacophony.

When the lead driver finally pulled into a parking space, I saw a wheelchair symbol on his rear license plate. He was handicapped and was obviously in need of the nearest parking space. I felt bad that I had harbored such hostile feelings about him, but was gratified that I had not sounded my horn, because then I would really have felt guilty for my lack of consideration.

This incident has helped me to delay my reactions to other frustrating situations until I have more time to evaluate all the circumstances. My motives do not stem from lofty principles, but from my desire to avoid having to feel guilt and remorse for having been foolish or inconsiderate.

Today I shall...

try to withhold impulsive reaction, bearing in mind that a hasty act performed without full knowledge of all the circumstances may cause me much distress.

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